Larry Summers looks on as his former boss, Bill Clinton, speaks. Summers, who served as treasury secretary under Clinton, is now thought to be among the contenders for the same post under President-elect Obama.

(CNN) – With the nation’s economy stuck in the grips of a financial crisis it just can’t seem to shake, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for the next head of the Treasury Department is among a handful of the most important Cabinet choices he will make. Indeed, in a recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, 41 percent of those surveyed said the choice for Treasury will matter most to the country’s future.